High-res reuters: Facebook Inc shares fizzled on their first day of trade on the Nasdaq, erasing early gains of as much as 18 percent to trade close to their initial public offering price. The stock opened 11 percent higher and rose to $45 before rapidly heading south in frenzied trade, touching its initial public offering price of $38. The No. 1 online social network raised as much as $18.4 billion in one of the biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history. After a delay in the opening print that drove up anxiety levels among traders and onlookers outside the Nasdaq, the company’s closely watched stock began trading at $42.05, compared with an IPO price of $38. To rapturous applause from employees, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg — flanked by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld — rang the bell to kick off trading at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time. The 28-year-old billionaire founder hugged and high-fived Sandberg and other employees in celebration after he pressed the remote button. READ MORE: Facebook fizzles in debut, shares skirt IPO price

reuters:

Facebook Inc shares fizzled on their first day of trade on the Nasdaq, erasing early gains of as much as 18 percent to trade close to their initial public offering price.

The stock opened 11 percent higher and rose to $45 before rapidly heading south in frenzied trade, touching its initial public offering price of $38. The No. 1 online social network raised as much as $18.4 billion in one of the biggest initial public offerings in U.S. history.

After a delay in the opening print that drove up anxiety levels among traders and onlookers outside the Nasdaq, the company’s closely watched stock began trading at $42.05, compared with an IPO price of $38.

To rapturous applause from employees, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg — flanked by Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld — rang the bell to kick off trading at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters at 6:30 a.m. Pacific time.

The 28-year-old billionaire founder hugged and high-fived Sandberg and other employees in celebration after he pressed the remote button.

READ MORE: Facebook fizzles in debut, shares skirt IPO price

High-res timelightbox: Khedi Konchieva, 15, goes on a date with her boyfriend in the village of Serzhen-Yurt. A couple on a date in Chechnya must meet in public and sit a few feet apart. Any form of intimate contact is forbidden; some young woman who have sex before marriage risk death at the hands of their family. Chechen authorities are the unseen presence in Diana Markosian’s photographs of girls growing up in Chechnya. See more here.

timelightbox:

Khedi Konchieva, 15, goes on a date with her boyfriend in the village of Serzhen-Yurt. A couple on a date in Chechnya must meet in public and sit a few feet apart. Any form of intimate contact is forbidden; some young woman who have sex before marriage risk death at the hands of their family.

Chechen authorities are the unseen presence in Diana Markosian’s photographs of girls growing up in Chechnya. See more here.

High-res reuters: Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj has won the Reuters Photo of the Year award for this image captured in North Korea in 2011. “After days of excitement and lots of rare pictures in the provinces, I came back to Pyongyang without big plans for shooting in the capital. All I wanted were some moody general views of the city,” Sagolj wrote. “This is probably the easiest big picture I shot for a long time - it was taken from the window of my hotel room in Pyongyang early morning, just before the sunrise. I knew that portrait was there and I insisted with our hosts to get a room on a very high floor facing that direction. So, all I had to do is to wake up early in the morning, make a coffee, light a cigarette and make sure I exposed well. The scene has this eerie look for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, then the revolutionary songs and propaganda speeches from loudspeakers wake the city up.” The photo shows a picture of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung decorating a building in the capital of Pyongyang on October 5, 2011. See more of the best photos from 2011

reuters:

Reuters photographer Damir Sagolj has won the Reuters Photo of the Year award for this image captured in North Korea in 2011.

“After days of excitement and lots of rare pictures in the provinces, I came back to Pyongyang without big plans for shooting in the capital. All I wanted were some moody general views of the city,” Sagolj wrote. “This is probably the easiest big picture I shot for a long time - it was taken from the window of my hotel room in Pyongyang early morning, just before the sunrise. I knew that portrait was there and I insisted with our hosts to get a room on a very high floor facing that direction. So, all I had to do is to wake up early in the morning, make a coffee, light a cigarette and make sure I exposed well. The scene has this eerie look for maybe 5 to 10 minutes, then the revolutionary songs and propaganda speeches from loudspeakers wake the city up.”

The photo shows a picture of North Korea’s founder Kim Il-sung decorating a building in the capital of Pyongyang on October 5, 2011.

See more of the best photos from 2011

(via soupsoup)